A problem which arises in private and commercial swimming pool installations, fish ponds, decorative pools and fountains is the accumulation of debris, such as leaves and the like, on the pool bottom. In swimming pools, a leaf skimmer system generally manages to skim off and catch all such items of debris which float on the surface long enough to be pulled into the skimmer by the natural currents of the recirculating water in the pool. Even in such pools, however, debris often sinks to the bottom before it has an opportunity to be caught in the skimmer. In pools which do not have a skimmer apparatus in them, such as fish ponds and decorative pools, are blown in or dropped in debris ultimately sinks to the bottom of the pool.
Debris which accumulates on the bottom of a pool is unsightly. In addition, such debris also accelerates the formation and growth of algae; and as the debris decomposes, it tends to create a cloudy condition in the water and is generally undesirable. For swimming pool installations, pool vacuuming apparatus generally is removably connected to the water intake for the pool recirculating system to suck up the debris from the bottom of the pool and deliver it to the main pool filter from which it may be removed or backwashed. Even in pools which have this capability, however, the removal of debris from the bottom of the pool in this manner, while effective, usually necessitates the disassembly of part of the skimmer apparatus in order to connect the vacuum hose to the water return for the pool circulation system. In addition, there is a definite disadvantage of sucking all of the pool debris into the main filter section of the pool through the vacuuming system. Generally there is no other choice, and this is a commonly accepted practice.
For pools where there is no recirculating water supply, however, the use of a vacuuming system of the type described above is precluded. In such pools, debris on the bottom of the pool must be removed by means of skimmer nets dragged over the debris. At best, only a portion of the debris is caught by such a net as it is moved back and forth over the pool bottom.
In pools of all types, it is frequently necessary to add additional water to replace the water which is splashed out of the pool, or which evaporates from it. Pool vacuums which use the addition of water to the pool to effect their operation have been devised where water under pressure is supplied to the pool through nozzles directed to a debris pickup bag or the like to blow debris located on the bottom of the pool into the pickup bag. Such debris then subsequently is removed from the bag. Systems of this type serve an added useful purpose of simultaneously supplying needed water to the pool while functioning to pick up debris from the bottom of the pool.
Most of the systems of the type used in the past, however, have the water supply nozzles located near the mouth or entrance of the debris pickup pipe or chamber to blow the debris into the chamber. Two such devices are disclosed in the patents to Lombardi, U.S. Pat. No. 2,725,356 issued Nov. 29, 1955, and Pansini, U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,393 issued June 8, 1976. Both of these patents relate to underwater pool vacuum devices having a rather large vacuuming pipe which is supported on wheels carried close to the bottom of the pool. An upwardly extending water jet (or a plurality of water jets) is supplied with water under high pressure through a hose to force a stream of water creating a vacuum to discharge into a basket or other receptacle through the exit end of the vacuum pipe. Thus, leaves and other debris located underneath the bottom of the vacuum pipe are sucked upwardly and discharged into the basket carried at the top of the device. It is necessary to pass these devices over the debris which is to be sucked up and they are relatively complex, cumbersome structures. In addition, these devices are not suitable for shallow ponds, such as fish ponds, since considerable vertical depth is required underwater to accommodate the basket.
It is desirable to provide a pool vacuum device operating with water supplied under pressure which is of simple construction, light weight, and effective for use in removing debris from the bottom of a pool, and which does not have the disadvantages of the prior art devices and methods discussed above.